Photos

The Swatch Girls Pro China is currently running on Hainan Island and will decide the ASP Women's Longboard World Champion. The waves for the first two days have been great with 2-4 foot sets peeling down the point at Riyue Bay.

The Swatch Girls Pro China is currently underway in Riyue Bay, Hainan Island. Before competitors donned the coloured singlets they warmed up on the waves nearby.

Let's hear it for the old boys! The Reef Hawaiian Pro hosted the Clash of the Legends yesterday; four surfers on the cemetery side of forty had Haleiwa to themselves while the young crowd ogled.

Haleiwa did a fair impression of Trestles yesterday during the Reef Hawaiian Pro. As the surf bogged to a measly 2-3 feet, above the lip flair was the only way to score and progress.

Big waves, clutch performances, throw in a Clash of the Legends heat (where one legend didn't even catch a wave!), and there's little this sports writer has to do whilst covering the Reef Hawaiian Pro

In search of more variety and less crowds, Northern Beaches surfers Jordy Lawler and Jackson Carey hit the highway and steer northwards.

It's been a wet and mouldy early season out on the North Shore, the rain has been both heavy and persistent. It continued through much of the HIC Pro, turning the water chocolate brown at times.

The southern Indian Ocean storm track is easing and with it all the waves that depend on its seasonal burst. With the season over it's high time to check on the highlights from the Maldives.

A free afternoon to chase waves, a kick in new swell and all day offshores. The first glimpse of the ocean coming down the hill revealed pumping 3-5ft waves on a quiet South Australian beach.

Surfers may come in all kinds and constitutions but it takes elemental desire to chase waves big waves. It's a desire common to all heavy water surfers, and that seems the most natural path for Sam to take.

I was given the opportunity to take my travels, photography and films to another creative level with my friends in the Banyak Islands on their new surf charter vessel, Pulse, as the on-board photographer. I returned a fortnight ago after eight months straight on the boat. Here is a small showcase highlighting the imagery of the Banyaks.

Colloidal Gold is photographer Ben Differding's first solo exhibition. It features a collection of surf images shot in Victoria during the past decade.

Y'seen the photos we posted of Mick and Kelly and Dane tearing up Cloudbreak? They were taken on Wednesday during a burst of long range south swell at the South Pacific reef. Before it travelled north however, that same swell hit the shores of Tasmania.

It wasn't just who was in the water, however, but the juicy subplots at play: the two remaining World Title aspirants duking it out at big Cloudbreak, the site of a match up they had earlier in the year. So who got the best of it, Mick or Kelly?

Ain't nothing like a succesful out of town mission.

On Sunday, photographer Toby Manson and sidekick Sam Jones set the alarm early, scarfed a bowl of ceral and hit the highway before sunrise. Their window of opportunity was limited.

South swells in the northerly season. They offer temporary respite during an otherwise frustrating time of year for Gold Coast surfers.

As I type many of the world's best surfers are winging their way toward Fiji. Parko, Mick, Slater, Dorian,  Anthony Walsh, Mick Freeman (who?). All of them chasing a south swell that formed in the Southern Ocean late last week.

Peruvian emigre, Ignacio 'Spud' Salazar, recently flew back to Peru to compete in the Big Wave World Tour contest at Pico Alto. The comp was cancelled due the lack of waves, but Spud manage to find some fun waves along the north coast of Peru.

While a behind the scenes shot of photographer Warren Keelan would likely show him rolling around in a shorebreak, camera in hand, sand in every orifice, the work he creates conjurs more than mere levity or amusement.

It's been a while since Matt Mackay has taken any surf photos. These days he's captivated by more sublime images: raw nature, landscapes, that kinda thing. And that was what Matt was chasing early on Sunday morning.